Thursday, May 20, 2010

Take Five

Everyone's time has value.

Everyone has twenty thousand things they absolutely must get done.

Once I billed for my time. When you do that, you learn to prioritize. You have to.

But lately those skills seem to have slipped away from me a little, partially because I love to find new ways to spin my wheels and procrastinate and watch minutes tick away in different and momentarily fascinating ways, but also because I've been making a small effort to try to accommodate people and be more tactful than I normally am.

Eh. That's not all it's cracked up to be.

Bottom line is this: Your time is not more valuable than mine. Don't tell me you can't spare a second when I see you handing out seconds all over the internet as if you're a World War II G.I. giving out Hershey bars and nylons. Or even if I don't.

If I can spare you a minute of my time, I expect a minute back from you. This goes for anything, whether it's errands and obligations or emailing, Tweeting, blogging or the lost hours I've spent critiquing your tome, only to get the following in return from you: "It's good. I didn't find anything wrong with it."

My time has a price: It's reciprocity.
So I intend to become a whole lot scarcer. Here and elsewhere.

I think it's all about balance. I seem to do the same thing - overextend to help everyone out, then realize I don't have enough left for myself. So then I back away until it is more balanced. Especially with this technology age - so much info flashing everywhere and so many hours in the day to accomplish things. Nothing wrong with having a good heart though, and trying to help. Just make sure your well is full first - you are important!

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Taryn Kincaid writes paranormal, historical and contemporary romance, sometimes spiced with a little humor or a lot of snark. Get swept away by her swoon-worthy heroes. Her latest, AMBER'S ACE, is her 3rd Black Hills Wolves book, following WOLF'S SONG and ANOTHER CHANCE in Decadent Publishing's popular multi-author series.
Visit Taryn at her website http://tarynkincaid.com, as well as Twitter, Facebook, tsu, Pinterest and Goodreads.